Filters
Topics
Campus & Community
Colleges & Schools

New method for 'visualizing' proteins reported by Cornell biomedical lab, enabling broader view of genome's circuitry

A newly established national biomedical center at Cornell University is reporting its first major advance: a new way of measuring, or "visualizing," proteins. The new technique will hasten the transformation of the human genome project's blueprints of life into a comprehensive view of the biochemical and physiological circuitry that interconnect to form entire organisms. The technique, which determines the structure of a protein by measuring the distances between atoms in the molecule at greater separations than previously possible, is an important development, says Jack Freed, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell, who is director of the National Biomedical Center for Advanced ESR Technology (ACERT), established at Cornell last year by the National Institutes of Health. "This is in the spirit of seeing the whole forest of the protein, whereas before we have been seeing the trees one after another," says Freed. (June 19, 2002)

Humanity's din in the oceans could be blocking whales' courtship songs and population recovery

The very-low-frequency courtship songs of fin whales and blue whales are the most powerful and ubiquitous biological sounds in the oceans. But the artificial racket created by ships and other human sources could be interfering with whale reproduction and population recovery, marine scientists report in the latest edition (June 20, 2002) of the journal Nature. Scientists from the University of California-Santa Cruz, Cornell University, Mexico's Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur and the California Academy of Sciences studied fin whale courtship songs in frequencies far below the range of human hearing. Natural sounds that low often can travel many hundreds, if not thousands, of miles under water. But so can very-low-frequency, human-made noises that have increased dramatically in the last 100 years of motorized shipping. (June 19, 2002)

Weeklong 'camp' at Cornell's Johnson School to build business skills –and confidence – in young women

Camp $tart-Up‚, a new program held at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University this July 20-27, will offer 17- to 19-year-old women some of the skills they'll need to pursue careers in business or run their own small enterprises.

Cornell graduate student Erica Pagel, of Oconto, Wis., is named agricultural fellow for N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton

Erica Pagel, a master's degree student in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has been named an agricultural fellow for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). For a six-month term, Pagel will be working with the senator's Agricultural Advisory Council and will provide expertise on the federal agricultural policy process. As a member of Clinton's legislative staff, Pagel will follow legislation and appropriations related to New York agriculture and serve as a liaison between constituents and the legislative staff. She will return to Cornell at the end of her term to complete her thesis and degree. (June 18, 2002)

Despite hopeful report that fungi help trees weather acid rain, not all species are protected, Cornell forest ecologist warns

A discovery reported in the latest edition of the journal Nature (June 13, 2002) – that fungi on the roots of some trees in the Northeastern United States help supply much-needed calcium in forest soils battered by acid rain – would seem to ease worries about the worrisome form of pollution.

Kennedy Foundation-funded Cornell MBA project helps people with disabilities start their own small businesses

Give Cari Holcomb a pen and she'll draw you a picture. Disabilities may have limited her employability but have not prevented the 28-year-old Tompkins County, N.Y., resident from making artwork all her life, she says. That's why the idea of designing and making brightly colored datebook covers and greeting cards and selling them locally appealed to her. You can now buy Holcomb's dinosaur datebooks for $5 apiece, and soon you will see her cards at the Ithaca Farmers' Market CraftAbility Collective booth run by Challenge Industries, a vocational rehabilitation agency in Ithaca. She and seven other Challenge service recipients with disabilities sell their work there Tuesdays and Saturdays thanks to a new Challenge self-employment program, a grant from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and a little help from three Cornell University MBA students and a local credit union. (June 18, 2002)

Death by color: spiny spiders' bright stripes don't alarm but attract prey, Cornell behavior scientist discovers

Like the glitter and glare of Las Vegas beckoning tourists to the gambling tables, the orb-weaving spiny spider flashes its colorful back to lure unsuspecting quarry into its web. The discovery of this lethal use of color runs contrary to the long-held belief that in the animal kingdom color is used generally to attract mates rather than to entice prey, says a Cornell University animal behavior researcher "Attraction is all casinos are about. They lure you; they want to get you there. They lure people with bright lights, cheap plane tickets, inexpensive hotel rooms, great shows and great meals," says Mark E. Hauber of Cornell's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior. "The spiny spiders work the same way." (June 14, 2002)

Cornell scientists create single-atom transistor by implanting molecule between wires, enabling 'virtual dance of electrons'

A long-sought goal of scientists has been to shrink the transistor, the basic building block of electronic circuits, to smaller and smaller size scales. Scientists at Cornell University have now reached the smallest possible limit: a transistor in which electrons flow through a single atom.

Cornell Board of Trustees Executive Committee meets in New York City June 20

The Cornell University Board of Trustees Executive Committee will meet in New York City Thursday, June 20. The meeting will be held in the Fall Creek Room of the Cornell Club of New York, 6 E. 44th St. (June 12, 2002)

Cornell Nanobiotechnology Center 'Moving Into the Future'

The Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC), a national research center at Cornell University, will hold its annual meeting June 21 in 700 Clark Hall on the Cornell campus. The meeting, under the theme of "Moving Into the Future," will feature presentations on current research, including opportunities in medicine and life sciences and the novel properties of nanostructures. The public is invited to attend the meeting without charge, although there will be limited seating. (June 10, 2002)

Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Zeiss Sports Optics ivory-billed woodpecker expeditions show no evidence of the bird

ITHACA, N.Y./ RICHMOND, Va. -- Since early January, bird researchers, conservationists and bird enthusiasts everywhere have been holding their breath for results of a series of cooperative expeditions conducted by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Zeiss Sports Optics and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries in search of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Although the species has been long thought to be extinct, recent reports suggested that a few could have lingered undetected in a remote part of Louisiana. Analysis of more than 4,000 hours of digital data captured by 12 acoustic recording units (ARUs), developed by the Cornell lab's team of bioacoustics engineers, have shown no indication of the species' presence. (June 10, 2002)

Chemistry Professor Paul L. Houston is appointed senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Paul L. Houston, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, has been appointed senior associate dean in Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1.